The first is a Snickers Cake and it lives up to its famous candy bar name.

There are several steps to this recipe so allow plenty of time to bake the cake at the base of the dessert, layer other ingredients and chill before serving.

I didn’t change much in this recipe. It calls for three Snickers candy bars but I used two packages of six mini candy bars because they were cheaper at the time. I ate one of the minis and used nine in the whipped topping mix. I cut up the remaining minis to mix with the peanuts that topped the cake.

It’s not necessary to use the entire jar of caramel ice cream topping in the earlier part of the recipe. You can save some to drizzle on the top as a finishing touch.

The dessert was a hit. When I took it to a gathering of friends it looked beautiful with the chocolate and caramel drizzle on top.

I took the leftovers to work to share with co-workers only to drop it in the doorway. Luckily there was a lid on the dish and the topping stuck to the lid of the container. This time around it was not quite as beautiful but still very tasty.

One co-worker described it as tasting like heaven. I don’t know about that, but it was sweetly delicious and now one of my favorite desserts.

The second dessert is a pie made with chopped Butterfinger candy bars and it’s pretty easy to make. It still needs time to chill but is worth the wait. All you do is mix the chopped candy bars, cream cheese and whipped topping and put in an already-made graham cracker pie crust. The recipe called for a 12-ounce carton of whipped topping but that could be a mistake. The eight-ounce carton was plenty to fill the pie crust.

Again, the packages of mini candy bars were cheaper so I used two packages of six for the pie and didn’t eat any this time, using all of them in the recipe.

After I bought the ingredients and carried them home, I found the crust was bent in the bag which left several cracks. A quick tip in case that happens to you is to brush melted butter along the cracks before baking so the cracks seam.

You don’t have to bake the graham cracker crust for this recipe but baking it helps it stay together better when slicing the pie.

Let the crust cool before putting in the pie filling. Chill and enjoy.

There was a bit of a problem with the cream cheese clumping and being too stubborn to mix well with the whipped topping, but other than that, this recipe is a breeze.

Snickers Cake

1 box devil’s food cake mix, plus ingredients to make the cake

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 jar hot caramel ice cream topping

1/2 cup chocolate chips

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 snickers candy bars, chopped

1/3 cup peanuts, chopped

caramel sauce

chocolate sauce

Bake cake in a 9-by-13-inch pan according to direction on the package.

While cake is baking, mix condensed milk and hot caramel topping until well blended. When the cake is done and while it’s still hot, poke holes in it with a fork or straw. Pour milk mixture over the cake. Allow cake to cool completely. Sprinkle chocolate chips over cake.

In a chilled bowl, whip heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed for 1-2 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Stir in chopped snickers. Spread over cake.

Sprinkle chopped peanuts over cake. Drizzle caramel and chocolate sauce on top and chill.